Twelve years have passed since anyone campaigned for the District 4 seat on the Alabama Board of Education.

In 2002 and 2006, incumbent Ethel Hall ran unopposed for the seat she has held for 24 years.

That's also how long it has been since a Republican has held the seat.

But Tom Dooley, a Republican from Vestavia Hills, isn't worried. He's running against Democrat Yvette Richardson of Fairfield, who has Hall's endorsement. After six terms, Hall decided not to seek re-election.

"I'm not afraid of a challenge," said Dooley, a molecular biologist.

Neither candidate has held elected office, and both say they bring fresh ideas to the seat.

Richardson said her experience -- she is a longtime educator and served as superintendent of Fairfield and Russell County schools -- gives her a leg up in the race.

"Because of my experience in education, I know that students are capable of learning," she said. "I want to be an advocate for the children."

Dooley said his business and leadership experience will help him be innovative in coming up with ways to correct Alabama's educational problems.

Dooley said he had thought he would never run for a political seat, but that changed when he had an epiphany while on Capitol Hill for the National Day of Prayer.

"I arranged for Shaun Alexander to be the keynote speaker and I thought, 'I can sit on the sidelines and complain about the lack of candidates who have competence and character to run, or I can answer my own prayer. I can do something,'" he said.

Alabama too often is ranked at the bottom in nationwide comparisons, Dooley said.

"We have little reason to be proud," he said. "We must move beyond a standard of acceptability to an expectation of excellence."

Dooley has a number of issues he said he'd like to address if he's elected. One of them includes advocating for a mentoring program to bring adult male role models from the community into the elementary environment.

"Fatherlessness is one of the major root problems that causes educational and economic disparities," he said.

Dooley also said he stands behind the Alabama Reading Initiative and the Alabama Math, Science and Technology Initiative, and believes the AMSTI program needs to be in all schools. Funding cuts have delayed the program's expansion.

Richardson said she has three main priorities if elected to the board: funding, addressing bullying and advocating for special needs programs.

"The economy is not at its best," she said. "However, the way our districts are funded needs to be revisited."

Bullying, she said, should be a high priority, in light of the rash of recent suicides among youngsters as a result of being bullied.

"I applaud what the state Department of Education has done by requiring school districts to pass (anti-bullying) policies, but I would like us to explore what other states have done with passing legislation against bullying," Richardson said. "That puts more teeth in it."

The days of the schoolyard bully have given way to a much bigger -- and scarier -- problem, she said, thanks to social media such as Facebook.

"When we were in school, you'd settle it by the flagpole or at the bus stop," she said. "But back then it was between two or three kids. Now everybody is involved because it's all over the Internet."

Her 20-year-old son has autism, and Richardson said the state lacks enough transitional programs for special needs students once they turn 21.

Federal law requires the public education system to provide services to special education students until they reach that age, and while there are a few programs for them after that, most have long waiting lists.